Prof. Eltigani Rahma, Head of the Division of Social Sciences at Ibn Khaldon Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at Qatar University (QU) shed light on latest developments made by the Center.
Ibn Khaldon Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences is a Research Centre, its vision is to play a pioneering role in the Arab and Islamic world towards re-examining the theoretical orientations of the Social Sciences and the Humanities, with a view to becoming a distinguished platform and intellectual space for researchers and scientific initiatives in the region and beyond.
The Centre’s research agenda spans a range of substantive areas of importance, including the Social Sciences, Humanities, Area Studies, and Security and Strategic Studies. Its core mission and mandate is to bridge the gap between the theory-oriented studies and the practical needs of Muslim-Arab societies in collaboration with leading institutions and researchers (locally, regionally and internationally) who share the Center’s intellectual concerns.
To shed more light on the center, its research activities, its administrative body and its most important achievements, the university conducted an interview with Prof. Eltigani Rahma, Head of the Division of Social Sciences. He remarked that societies’ progress and prosperity are normally linked to the level of awareness among them; the lower the level of awareness in the community, the more negatively reflected on the march towards their progress and prosperity. On the other hand, the higher the level of awareness, the more solid and stable the process of development becomes.
Prof. Eltigani said, “Humanities and Social sciences are primarily responsible for the process of developing awareness; through it, societies manage to interact with each other. Researchers on humanities and social sciences focus on studying human and social phenomena and develop a methodology for dealing with them. Politics, religion, language, and social interactions in all of their forms interact, and this interaction is governed by man’s understanding of these phenomena.”
As a result, society’s progress and development are not solely dependent on advances in natural sciences. Applied sciences may have a harmful impact on human societies if they are not framed by a sound intellectual framework, which can only be achieved by a sound understanding of human and social phenomena, as well as human experiences. It demonstrates the danger of natural science expansion without parallel growth in the humanities and social sciences.
Speaking on the center’s philosophical outlook, Prof. Eltigani remarked that the Ibn Khaldon Center for Humanities and Social Sciences aspires to be a pioneer in building theoretical structures for the humanities and social sciences in the Arab world.
The center is home to a large number of male and female researchers from Qatar, the Arab world, and other countries, all of whom are united by a passion for knowledge and a desire to conduct serious research that contributes to solving social problems and to effectively contributing to Qatar’s comprehensive renaissance in all fields.
Regarding the center’s activities, Prof. Eltigani said that the Center has organized many activities and events, the most important of which are: Arab-Turkish Relations: Looking for New Horizons; Challenges and opportunities, and Dr. Ibrahim Kalin’s lecture: “Islam and the West”, winning the best research poster award for the faculty and post-doctoral category during the Center’s participation in the Qatar University Research Forum and Exhibition 2021, and the Center’s organization of the Taliban Return Symposium: Interactions and Consequences, and the local symposium: Culture as a Tool for Soft power, Qatar’s Hosting of the World Cup as a Model, and a symposium on Scenarios for the Post-Khamenei Iranian regime: A Reading of Models and Options, Scientific lecture: Zionist Claims to the Historical and Religious Right in Jerusalem: presentation and criticism, International Conference: The Religious Themes in the World Constitutions: Scientific Symposium: The International Political Economy of Popular Boycotts: Reading in the Boycott of French Products, Round Circle: To what extent can the Iranian economy withstand US sanctions? International Symposium: Human Rights in Children’s Literature in the Arab World, International Symposium: The Philosophy of Higher Education in the Light of the Dominance of the Labor Market, Symposium on “The Sino-Iranian Agreement and Its Impact on the Middle East Files”.
Regarding the most important publications recently issued by the center, Prof. Eltigani explained that the Center has issued a number of important books, which includes; The Islamic Economy and the Question of Development, Cultural Paths in Qatar, Sociological Research Priorities in the Arab World, Sociology and the Question of Regionalization, the Crisis of Social Sciences in the Arab World, Scenarios of the Post-Khamenei Iranian Regime, The Questions of Methodology, Research Priorities in Humanities, Social and Legal Sciences in the Arab world, the Corona Crisis and its Repercussions on Sociology, Political Science and International Relations, Transformations of the Gulf Security Scene after the Gulf Crisis, Introduction to Political Philosophy, Contemporary Legitimate Approaches to Political Concepts and Topics.
Source: QATAR UNIVERSITY